by Charles Hugh Smith
Of Two Minds
The collateral supporting the global mountain of debt is crumbling as speculative bubbles deflate.
A great many freebies are being tossed in the Helicopter Money basket. That households experiencing declines in income need immediate support is obvious, as is the need to throw credit lifelines to small businesses. But beyond those essentials, the open-ended nature of Helicopter Money has unleashed a frenzy of political favors and giveaways that have little to do with helping households and everything to do with rewarding favored cronies, cartels and interest groups.
As Gordon Long and I explain, the short-term “pain relief” of Helicopter Money won’t cure the economy’s financial disease; rather, it will act as a catalyst for longer-term disruption and decline.
None of the giveaways being discussed address the core causes of our systemic financial disease: